Reading Update: 1/4 of 2011

I am rather boastful when it comes to talking about books I've read. Past attempts to keep lists have usually fallen flat on their backsides. However I have got into the habit of keeping 2011's reads in a Google Doc which I can access each time I open my email (which is far too often). My reading tastes have been graphic novels of late. I find them rather fast and easy to read; I can usually polish one off in half an hour. Him Indoors got me a Kindle for my birthday and I have been downloading a lot of the classics I should have read years ago, like Pride and Prejudice. Unfortunately I have been somewhat distracted by easier reads. My brain finds it difficult to process the writing styles pre-mid 20th century when I'm tired. As I do most of my reading at night, this can slow my reading intake. There has been one book that kept me way up past my bedtime though.

That book has to be Any Human Heart by William Boyd. I love whacking huge literary books, especially ones that span decades. The portaginst is Logan Mountstuart and the novel is written in the format of his "personal diaries." I had to keep checking the back cover to make sure it was indeed a work of fiction. We follow Mountstuart through his time at Oxford, reporting on the Spanish Civil War, his sour friendship with Edward VI and Wallace Simpson, the knowledge that 'it all comes down to luck in the end. That's all it [life] is: good luck and bad luck.' 


Here's my list so far: 

January
1. The Secret History - Donna Tartt
2. A Week in December - Sebastian Faulks
3. Isabel Dalhouise: The Lost Art of Gratitude  - Alexander McCall Smith
4. The Election - Tom Percotta
5. Dead White Men and other Important People - Ralph Fevre and Angus Bancroft (DNF) *

February
6. Any Human Heart - William Boyd
7. Y The Last Man Vol. One: Unmaned - Brian K. Vaughan, Pia Guerra and Pamela Rambo
8. The Abstinence Teacher - Tom Percotta
9. Hope for Newborns - Rodge Glass (DNF) *

March

10. Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro
11 Y The Last Man Vol. Two: Cycles - Brian K. Vaughan, Pia Guerra and Pamela Rambo
12. Y The Last Man Vol. Three: One Small Step - Brian K. Vaughan, Pia Guerra and Pamela Rambo
13. The Walking Dead Vol. Nine: Here We Remain - Charlie Adlard, Cliff Rathburn and Robert Kirkman
14. Y The Last Man Vol. Four: Safeword - Brian K. Vaughan, Pia Guerra and Pamela Rambo
15. Y The Last Man Book Five: Ring of Truth - Brian K. Vaughan, Pia Guerra and Pamela Rambo

*DNF = Did Not Finish